Help ? Eleven plus points?

[scary mum]

I know of a September born who got 141 (last year) in both papers, so it is possible. My understanding is that the "bell shaped" curve actually has a kick up at the end as more actually get 141 than other pass mark scores as it will include children from the whole year group, the younger ones with lower scores than the older ones, but because 141 is the maximum they sort of stack up against each other. Does than make sense?

[Sally-Anne]

My understanding is that the "bell shaped" curve actually has a kick up at the end

I usually describe it as the Eiffel Tower! A sample I have here from a few years back shows the "summit" of the bell curve to be just below 200 children (on scores ranging between 106 and 116, as would be expected). It then descends fairly smoothly to a low point of around 25 children scoring 140, and then leaps to around 250 children on a score of 141.

141 is not actually the highest mark possible, but a cut-off point beyond which the standardisation becomes increasingly unreliable, so all the children in Bucks who achieve scores of 141+ are lumped together on 141. In some 11+ areas where places are allocated by score, and the actual score is therefore important, scores as high as 148 have been recorded.